sunnuntai 20. maaliskuuta 2011

The vocal sessions have been the best one so far but also the most exhausting one as well. Aksu's recording booth is not too oxygen friendly so there were times I'm not sure if I was breathing my own air or was I just surfing on the clouds wondering all the colours! To lose consciousness while screaming is pretty wicked experience but it sounded badass! Same thing with vomiting while you're screaming! HUUTOYRJÖÖ! Well, what wouldn't you do for your own art, right!? Right. The amount of sweat given to this album can be measured in gallons and I'll be damned if it doesn't sound like that!

What else to blabber about recording the vox... Hmm, oh! We used the same mic for clean and the scream vocals and I've always been very comfortable with Shure's SM7B because it feels firm in my hand. Also the sound is very good! Yes, probably now all the hifi studio geeks lifted their eyebrows about having the mic in the hand while recording. But for me it's all about being comfortable in the studio and this way I sound better and I get more feeling into the whole performance.

Talk about the relief after being done with all the vocals! I of course shaved my pathetic studio hair off from my face to seal the session. I do have one thing to whine about the whole studio beard/mustache thingy. The rest of the guys started to grow their beavers at the same time as me. Well, they all shaved their ones off right after their parts which I think, is a pussy ass thing to do! Now I feel I took one for the team. I had to go on with my günthers more than a month compared to the other guys and that's why I'm raising a question about the future sessions. The hair stays on until everyone is done, then it's fair and sucks for everyone the same amount of time! Dammit! These are serious things!

We also had our restaurant tour going on with Aksu everyday we recorded so I can now reveal the best food places of Lahti(in our opinion and that's the law). Our scoring system contained categories such as Service(10p), Price(10p), Atmosphere(10p) and of course the Food(10p) itself. The winner got maximum score! Here is the top 5:

MAMMA MARIA - 40pLOKKI - 37pSANTA FE - 35pPIHVELI - 30pTOROS - 29p

Go eat!

I want to say a huge thank you here to the vocal producer/engineer Aksu Hanttu who whipped my ass constantly and persistent to get the best possible sound off my pipes. Eventhough I wouldn't do it all over just tomorrow but I'd definitely do it again. Rispektii dyyd!

Now we wait for the mixes. I'm confident after being so deep inside these songs that we are on the right track. We can't wait to play this shit live!

perjantai 4. maaliskuuta 2011

Finally! I've been waiting to hit the studio for ages already! Practicing by yourself for 1,5 months can be boring as watching a baseball game!

This is Jules reporting from the Wave Sound Studios, Zigäägöy, Finland, where we've been working long hours with Aksu Hanttu, who is engineering/producing the vocals on this album. It's been very clear to us since the day no. 1 that this album will be the best we've ever done so far and now that we've started with the vocals, this first impression is only getting stronger.

The recording booth is built inside a closet so it means that I'm coming out from the closet and going in for several times a day. My identity is shaking pretty badly, so if these reports are signed by my transgender name Julia, I won't take any responsibility on that matter!

Well, anyway, we already got shitloads of singing/screaming/growling done and I have to say that never during my days of singing have I been stretched so far to my limits and beyond. Aksu is working hard trying to get the best out of me, and it is working. I'm very happy to be working with him again on the vocal tracks. He knows how to dig the diamonds out from the crap so I'm very confident with him being on board with us. I'm also known to be a whining bitch sometimes in the studio but for now no bitchin' has come out yet!

We've been here now for five days and the work continues next week after I get some rest for my voice. Believe me when I say that it's a rest well needed. We started out in the beginning of the week with the clean parts and the plan was to make them first under way before we can start with the screams. After three days of singing I already wanted to make some screaming because it is fun as hell! It's refreshing to change the working habits sometimes.

I'm not sure about what to blabber here in the blog because the big picture is still kinda scattered around but it is slowly coming together. What I can tell you is that I'll post here after the sessions are done, the TOP-5 food restaurants in Lahti! We decided with Aksu to eat everyday in a different food joint (everyday a different diarrhea!). This basically means that we'll go through 10 restaurants in Lahti(yes, they have at least 10, we checked!), all different from each others. Right now in the leading spot is Mamma Maria. If you don't believe me, check their Pasta Mamma Maria and you'll know what I'm talking about! Not for vegetarians ;)...

sunnuntai 20. helmikuuta 2011

My name is Antti Seroff and I have been finally given a chance to show my true skin by playing the basses on the next Profane Omen -giant.

Williami asked me to write something to the studio blog like the other guys have, so here we go:Almost six months ago I was at the local store to buy myself a coffee maker, when I got a phone call from an odd number. I couldn't make out anything of the call because the line was bad, so I hung up. After a while the phone rang again, and I answered it with an attitude like "who the fuck is this?"The caller was Williami and he asked me to come to an audition the next weekend. From that moment on I have lived the happiest days of my life so far. My mood has been AWESOME ever since. Even practicing with Profane Omen would have been enough, so you can imagine that when the guys asked me to play the basses on the next album I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. Think about it: me, a 20 year-old fella' in a situation where such an opportunity hits him straight in the face screaming "This is what you have been fucking waiting for, and now it's happening."

So, the short history aside, the basses have now been played and I can honestly say that I did the best I could to make the album solid iron. Like Antti and Williami, I played my parts at the training place, in peace and at my own pace. It felt like the best choice since my experiences from studio work are very limited.

I want to name three things that made the last couple of weeks awesome: The food that Mira made us kept my mind all pumped up all the way to the wee hours, the friendliness of Mikko Herranen and the positive energy literally shining of him and the cheering presence of Ville Sorvali that made my inspiration to rise in some new heights. The support of this whole group of freaks and weirdos has been a great help during doing the most important thing in my life so far. So I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

torstai 17. helmikuuta 2011

Now it's my turn to say something about these sessions. At first: this was the best studio experience of my life. Playing on tape was just a natural part of spending my days. We had no rush at any point and we could do things on our own pace and if we felt like going for a swim, we did it. When someone gets a stupid idea like that you got to see it through. I'm glad that I did it but man, it was so cold that I have never felt so cold in my life!! I couldn't breathe in the water and I was shaking like crazy when I got out of there. It was horrible, but so horrible that I have to do it again sometime!

When someone says to a guitar player "play the best solos of your life" and leaves him alone in a basement to do it, the result may cause some sort of insanity. I recorded myself when I did my solos and it was crazy because I started to get really fixated on every little detail that only I could hear. I kept thinking that this is not the rock n' roll- way to do things. Things were different in Elvis's times.. But it ended with great results also. I had also left a lot of room for improvisation and when you start composing during recording, things might get a little out of hand. When the screen says "Take 47" I'm starting to think "what the hell am I doing! Am I really this bad as a guitar player..I suck." But that's what I asked for, I was on a quest for the perfect guitar solo!! And I must say that at least in one solo I accomplished that. I get chills in my spine when I hear it and just start laughing!! Great.. Hurray for me...

Here is clip of the memo I made for myself after that day:Bad Dreams:- "A Solo" ( this being the name of the track recorded ) The first half is better on this one- "A SoloKaveri" Really freaky sound after the middle part. Definitely stays on the record. Got to ask Mikko for help.

Predator:- "A SoloLead" This is good enough, can't play anymore..fucking tired!!- The last few riffs were played like shit. Played them again on the solo tracks. Ask Mikko for help.

The next day we listened to the solos with Viljami and he gave me the thumbs up. Everything's great.

It's a strange feeling when everything is recorded. You try to think of something to play just for the sake of playing, because you don't want this to be over. But when it's over, it's over. I have also felt a little bit empty for a few days now but that's good because I know I've given everything I can to the record. Can't wait for Jules to start work on the vocals. Can't wait to play these songs live!!!

keskiviikko 16. helmikuuta 2011

So, yeah. Time to give you somekind of an update again. First of all, I have to say that I have really enjoyed myself at the training place during recording. Not having an internet access around is more refreshing than I expected it to be. On this album I tried to keep my focus on playing, not writing about it or waving a video camera around all the time or surfing some stupid websites for killing time.

I won't or even couldn't remember the exact order of events and I'm not so sure that it would even be that interesting for anyone to read, so I thought that I'd let the photos we took do the most of the storytelling.

After we had our rhythm guitars played in, we thought that we needed somekind of a "break" or transition, if you will. So we decided that before we move on to the solos and guitar extras, we would go and take a nice warm swim at the nearby pond of Mytäjäinen. After that we got shitfaced and played the cover song that we're doing as rock and roll is meant to be played: wasted, loud, standing up and nude.This was a lot of fun and it gave us some new found focus for the solos and stuff.It took the load of the passed days in the basement off our backs, so to speak.

Playing the solos was so much easier in this environment too, and even the fact that I left myself quite a lot of room for improvisation didn't stall the recording. I honestly think that working this way has made me a better and more soulful player than on any of the previous recordings. Is it that way or not, I leave for you guys to decide sometime in the fall, when this masterpiece is released. ;)There's this one solo on this album, that I think will be one of those things that I will be proud of until the end of days. Nothing fancy or shit like that. It's just that it still gives me the chills to play it. After all the times I've already played it. And the song that has this solo might just have the last lyrics I will write for Profane Omen. So, there are a lot of personal emotions on this album too.

As extras we used some banjo, Ebow and some melody doubles, but we tried to keep it simple and I think that we managed to reach our objective. Not too much shit, just the good ones. ;)

The songs in themselves seem very Profane Omen, but there's a new twist to our sound. Hearing this now, when we have most of the instruments played in, is exciting and also rewarding. I myself am convinced that we have definitely grown musically and as a band that plays together.

Having Mikko checking our solos that we played in when he was not around made me a bit nervous at first, but since he didn't make me play anything over again, it was easy to let go and just trust the shit. Mikko has been really an awesome producer and I think that if he had not been such a cool dude with so much knowledge and just the right words to say at the right time, this album would have never sounded as good as it does now. Not to mention how good it will sound when it's finished.

After we had our parts done, there was only one thing left to do: Getting rid of the studio beard. I can't describe how annoying it was for me to see my own moustache for weeks. So, we headed to our friends' hair salon/tattoo studio The Place and got ourselves some nice mafia-style shaves with a razor. I was surprised to see myself in the mirror looking years younger instead of a caveman.

At the moment I feel empty. But in a good way. I feel like we gave so much of ourselves to this album with Antti, that you guys are going to hear it on the album.I guess Antti will also have a say of his points of view, but for the time being you have to settle for my blabbering, since he's got no computer even at his place.

Thank you Antti, Mikko, Ville, AnttiKakkonen, Panu, Jaakko and of course my lovely wife Mira for feeding us during the session.You guys made this session the best one I've had so far.

Edit:The photos are in a backward order, so if you want to see them in chronological order, just start from the bottom. I don't know how to put them the right way, and to be honest, I'm not too willing to learn just now. ;)

sunnuntai 6. helmikuuta 2011

We've been playing some rhythm guitars with Antti at PO headquarters since last wednesday and there's no internet available there, so that's why we have been quite quiet with this blog thingie.

Everything has been peachy and we are still way ahead of the schedule. At the moment we have recorded the rhythm parts to 7 songs and we will continue again tomorrow, when Mikko and Ville come along to check our recordings so far.

The training place - at least to me - seems to be the place to play. I have been much more relaxed than ever before recording. I like the fact that the place is familiar to me and the "redlightophobia" is not as present as it has been playing anywhere else.It's like I'm recording guitars on my home couch. Without the cats and the tv, though.

This time I'm using two amplifiers and two guitars:

-Metaltronix M-1000-The Ugly Fuck (The legendary transistor amplifier that I put together with some duct tape and stickers)

-Tokai, my one and only.-Gibson LP Studio (Thanks a bunch to Marko for lending it to me)

+MXR Wylde Overdrive pedal.

The sound is richer than ever before, and we seemed to agree on it with Mikko almost in an instant.

All in all, it has been too easy so far. Already awaiting for tomorrow. Want to play the rest of these rhythm guitars in so that I can put my focus in the solos.It's going to be a killer album, I tell ya.

~Williami

Dr. Bonfire reporting also:

Everything has been really cool and recordings are going along smoothly. I completely agree with everything Williami said, this is the best way to record guitars. Very relaxed atmosphere and no rush at all.

My equipment list is kind of short: Ever since I got to plug in a Marshall JCM Jubilee Edition 100W amplifier, I have found my guitar sound and it instantly felt like my own. And with my Tokai guitar I'm all set out to rock!!

Not much else report right now... But also a huge thanks to Mira Kurki for feeding us basement-rats with nourishing tastes straight out of heaven!!